


The Gift

by joyeusenoelle



Category: In Nomine
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-22
Updated: 2013-12-22
Packaged: 2018-01-05 11:15:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,227
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1093246
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/joyeusenoelle/pseuds/joyeusenoelle





	The Gift

**Author's Note:**

  * For [fadeverb](https://archiveofourown.org/users/fadeverb/gifts).



Govinda found the package on the passenger seat of the Dodge Challenger she shared with her partner, Jacki. It was a cube, about eight inches on a side, with a fitted top. The box and the top were wrapped separately in cheerful red paper with white snowmen grinning up at Govinda, and the whole thing was tied with a bow made of broad, glimmering green ribbon with gold stripes running down its edges. It was so out of place that her mental gears ground to a halt trying to figure it out.

"Jacki, did you do this?" she asked. 

Jacki was slinging her bag into the back seat of the car; she looked up as Govinda spoke. 

"When would I have had time to do that, darling?" the Lilim asked, sliding into the driver's seat. "I've been a little busy having a perfectly good deal blow up in my face." 

A bullet ricocheted off the top of the car to punctuate Jacki's point, and Govinda was startled back into awareness. She rolled over the hood of the car, landing on the driver's side, and crouched behind the vehicle, readying her handgun. 

"What the hell are you doing? Get in the car!" 

Govinda shook her head. "This is as far as I can go. The Boss doesn't like it when we leave a fight unfinished."

"Good grief." Jacki pulled her own little pistol out of her handbag and fired through the open passenger window. "Cover me while I get the artillery out of the back, then."

Govinda rose and started firing while Jacki climbed back out of the car and made her way to the trunk. Her opponents were mostly hiding as well, several behind a forklift and a few more behind some stacked crates, and Govinda kept them pinned there, winging one and taking another down outright. A wave of disturbance hit her as the second man fell. "Is that going to cause problems?" Jacki shouted.

"Nothing we can't handle," Govinda replied. She put a bullet through the windows of the forklift cab, eliciting shouts from the humans hiding behind it as the safety glass rained down on them. It wouldn't do any real damage, Govinda knew, but it was inconvenient, and distracted them while she surveyed the arsenal that Jacki had pulled out of the trunk. She plucked a grenade from a little pile by the side of the guns, said "Fire in the hole!" only just loud enough for Jacki to hear it, and tossed the live grenade toward the crates.

The bomb settled on the first level of crates, rolling to a stop against the base of the second level. It wasn't quite where Govinda had intended it - she'd meant to get it at the feet of the men _behind_ the crates - but as it went off, searing skin and driving chunks of crate and whatever had been inside them toward the hiding men, she conceded that it at least had the desired effect. The Symphony rang with another death, which meant one more in the crate debris and two behind the forklift. 

Govinda and Jacki ducked back behind the car as the forklift denizens fired at them. "Going well?" Jacki asked.

"They're down by half," Govinda said. "And I don't think they have reinforcements, or they'd have shown up by now."

"So yes," Jacki replied. She turned and squeezed a few shots off at the forklift through the car's open passenger window. "Can we end this quickly?"

"If we blow up the forklift."

"Then blow up the forklift." Jacki handed Govinda another grenade. "Let's just get this over with so we can move on."

"You got it," Govinda said. Jacki picked up a submachine gun and stood, spraying the forklift with bullets and pushing the humans - all three of them had congregated behind the machine - back into hiding. 

Govinda got up and threw the grenade, and now that she had suppressive fire and could take a moment, her aim was true. The grenade rolled under the forklift and, judging by the disturbance that washed over her, took out all three of the men standing behind it, as well as doing substantial damage to the forklift itself. It didn't actually sail through the air, but it did topple over, revealing three inert bodies. Her judgment of the disturbance had been correct, and like a sigh of relief she felt her Word's dissonance ease off.

"So where the hell did that go wrong?" she asked, leaning back against the Challenger. 

"Blessed if I know," Jacki said. "Someone I didn't recognize walked in the room, pointed at us, and started shouting in Arabic. Did you know who he was?"

"Nope. Soldier? Or a Saint, maybe." Govinda shrugged. "Fuckin' humans."

"Like you say," Jacki said, straightening her dress. "Why don't you go clean up the bodies while I put the weaponry away?"

"Clean up the - oh." Govinda had only had her resonance for a few years, after decades of service as an Ofanite, and she still occasionally forgot some of its more practical applications. She headed over to the wreckage at the far side of the lot; by the time she had finished disintegrating the bodies into pools of dust and liquid, Jacki had put the artillery away and was sitting in the driver's seat of the Challenger. 

She tapped her fingers on the wheel as Govinda approached. "Ready to go?"

"Nothing identifiable left. We might have to ditch the guns we used, but we can always pick more up. You have everything?" Govinda opened the passenger door and realized the gaily-wrapped box was still sitting there. She picked it up and shook it; it rattled slightly. "Mind if I take a minute to open this?"

"As long as you're okay with the police showing up, darling, I'll wait around all day."

Govinda pulled apart the ribbon, letting it dangle as she took the top off the box. Inside was a card in a plain white envelope, inscribed with her name; under that sat a smaller box, this one clamshell with a felt cover. She opened the card first.

 _My dearest Govinda,_ the card read, _I miss you. We used to talk in one of the colonnades at the bazaar - you know the one - and I find myself going back there occasionally to remember your voice. If you ever want to talk, just let me know. You'll know how._

_By the way - I do hate to see a deal go sour. What you came for is in unit 108; the padlock's combination is 5-4-49. But then, these days, you probably don't need to know that. Just promise you'll leave the cash behind._

_Merry Christmas, Go._

_With love -- M_

Govinda cleared her throat, put the card back in the box, and opened the clamshell; inside was a gold chain, necklace-length, with a crystal pendant. It hummed faintly as she brought her hand close to it, and didn't react at all to her mild entropic aura. She picked up the chain and put it on; it hung just long enough that she could hide it under her shirt.

"It looks nice," Jacki said. "Who's it from?"

"An old friend." Govinda set the box down in the back seat, doing her best to suppress a little smile. "Turn off the car - I think we still have a pickup to make."


End file.
